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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.